OLEOMARGARINE. 



635 



Mr. WHITE. What lias been your observation with reference to the 

 health ful ness of this oleomargarine product 1 ? 



Mr. DAVIS. I do not know that there is any evidence as to its injuri- 

 ous eifect upon consumers. That is a subordinate matter. 



Mr. WHITE. I wanted to see what your observation had been. 



Mr. DAVIS. I have never heard of any bad results from it. 



Mr. WHITE. In your opinion, it is a healthful product? 



Mr. DAVIS. So far as we know there is nothing in it deleterious to 

 health. The main point we wanted to present is the fact that this 

 traffic is done illegally, and that we think the provisions of this bill, if 

 passed, would be a great remedy and would prevent that thing. 



Mr. LORIMER (to Mr. Kimball). Do you know that the Grout bill 

 provides that when butterine is shipped into any State in the Union 

 it shall go in under the control of the State law? 



Mr. KIMBALL. I do not know that that is in the bill, but it would 

 seem natural for it to be there. The State should have police powers 

 in anything of that kind. 



Mr. LORIMER. That is one of the provisions of the bill. You say 

 there were last year 11,000,000 pounds of butteriue sold in Pennsyl- 

 vania? 



Mr. KIMBALL. Yes, sir. . 



Mr. DAVIS. And about 10 per cent, or about a million pounds, was 

 sold as butteriue? 



Mr. KIMBALL. I did not make that statement; but in Pennsylvania 

 oleomargarine is sold and butterine is sold. My statement was that 

 fully nine-tenths of the oleomargarine sold in Philadelphia was sold 

 fraudulently. In the western part of the State it is more openly sold. 



Mr. LORIMER. You of course would not make that statement unless 

 you knew it to be true? 



Mr. KIMBALL. No; I state that as my belief. I have no figures on 

 the matter. 



Mr. LORIMER. Do you know who the dealers are who sell butterine 

 as butter? 



Mr. KIMBALL. I could not specify any. If I had knowledge of those 

 facts it would be my duty to present them to the district attorney. 

 We go in and talk with men who are buying our goods, and we know 

 they have this stuff and we see it there. 



Mr. LORIMER. What you know about it is what you have heard? 



Mr. KIMBALL. Yes, sir. 



Mr. LORIMER. Suppose we pass this bill I have heard it contended 

 by butter men of the country that the principal feature is the first sec- 

 tion in what way would it assist you to prosecute those men now in 

 your State violating the law? 



Mr. KIMBALL. Only insomuch as the law would make oleomargarine 

 shipped into the State colored subject to the State law. 



Mr. LORIMER. The first section simply says it shall be under the 

 State law, and what I wanted to know is in what way it will benefit you 

 if we pass that section of this bill? 



Mr. KIMBALL. I do not see that it would benefit us any more than 

 we have been benefited, unless it prohibits the manufacturer shipping 

 it in except under the State requirements. The manufacturer can ship 

 it to day. 



Mr. LORIMER. You say that the amount of butter sold in your city 

 has decreased 50 per cent since oleomargarine was first shipped in. On 

 what do you base that? 



Mr. KIMBALL. Our books show the amount our customers were using 

 three or four years ago and what they are using now. 



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